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POCILLOVY/pəʊˈsɪləvɪ/ Collecting egg cups. A word of narrow focus and specialist appeal, this is rare enough that no dictionary has yet opened its pages to admit it, although it may be found among aficionados of this hobby and in occasional news items. Its source is the Latin pocillum for a small cup (a diminutive of poculum, a cup). This root turns up in a few other rare words, such as pocilliform for something in the shape of a small cup, or pocillator for a cup-bearer. To it has been added ovi, an egg. It’s an odd-looking term, which emphasises its essential weirdness, since the only other common English words that end in -ovy are anchovy, groovy and Muscovy. A person who engages in the pursuit may be called a pocillovist. |
Page created 18 Oct. 2003
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